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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23306098">Together</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiegirl901/pseuds/Katiegirl901'>Katiegirl901</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCIS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, No graphic mentions of Rape or Non-Con but definitely touches on the aftermath!, Schooled post ep</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 13:40:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>918</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23306098</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiegirl901/pseuds/Katiegirl901</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Ep to 'Schooled' 17x18, where did Jack go after her conversation with Faith?</p>
<p>(No graphic mentions of anything but the subject matter is heavy, PLEASE proceed with caution)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>122</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Together</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I AM BACK... I feel like I have a lot of explaining to do! First of all I am so sorry for the extreme absence, I wish I could say that posting will be more frequent however I'm just not sure. I've been struggling a bit the last few months and writing has been difficult and posting has seemed impossible. </p>
<p>I wrote this immediately following tonights episode because it really struck a chord with me, not going to lie I really struggled watching it and if it weren't for a friend talking to me the whole way through I think I would have turned it off. As a survivor myself I was so proud of how that episode was handled, it was beautiful from beginning to end and even though it wrecked me in a way NCIS hasn't in awhile it really - I don't want to say normalized but I'm having a hard time coming up with a word - brought attention to an incredibly difficult and very real issue in our world. </p>
<p>I wrote this fic on a request from a friend and let me tell you it didn't go the way I planned, I just started writing and all of a sudden it grew into this... I had planned to write it from Jack's perspective but it hit a bit too close to home for me so instead I wrote it from Gibbs' perspective. I am in no way telling anyone how they should feel in this situation, I based this off of the vibe I was getting off of Gibbs in the staircase scene and I also based it a lot on how I dealt with things after my own experience and how I felt when a friend came forward.</p>
<p>This is an incredibly real topic, I work in the Violence Against Women sector and I really struggled with this, (not going to lie I haven't stopped shaking) if you are feeling unsure take a breather and read it later or not at all! No hard feelings here!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He’s in the basement sanding his slightly neglected boat when he hears her footsteps overhead. He’s been waiting for her, he debated going to her but at the end of the day he knew she needed time and space as much as he did.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’d barely held it together at the top of the stairs, if they had been anywhere else he’s not sure that the tears that had welled in his eyes wouldn’t have spilled over because <em>Jesus</em> it had been close. The idea that someone else has hurt her, someone else had laid a hand on her after everything else she’d been through had nearly broken his heart.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The worst part is that it shouldn’t have happened -<em>not that it’s ever right</em>, he reasons- but it wasn’t a war zone, it wasn’t because of her career. It was a goddamn college party with friends she trusted and <em>fuck</em> if that isn’t the one place she should have been safe!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He swallows hard as he hears her rustling through the fridge in the kitchen above him. He knows he needs to be there for her, be strong for her but everything in him just wants to break down. He takes a deep breath as she appears at the top of the stairs, the necks of two beer bottles caught between the fingers on one hand and the other hand fiddling with her necklace.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I just saw Faith.” She announces quietly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He jerks his head in a silent invitation and waits until she’s at the bottom of the stairs. He wants to hold her but he lets her steer the direction of the conversation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“She knows.” She states as she hands him a beer before retreating back to the stairs where she sinks down, one leg tucked under her in what is no doubt a very uncomfortable position.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Everything?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jack purses her lips and nods before looking down at the floor, “She figured it out on her own… Said that she recognized the look on my face when she asked about her father… She said that she sees it a lot in the trauma unit.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He can see that she’s struggling for control, the beer she’s holding is shaking slightly and she’s pulling at her necklace in a way that makes him wonder when it’ll finally break. She swallows hard and looks back up at him and the only thing he sees on her face is devastation, pure, unadulterated devastation and it breaks him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He puts his beer down on his work bench and rubs his hand roughly over his face before walking closer to her. He crouches down in front of her and gently places a hand on her knee.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“She-“ Her voice breaks in a sob, “She understands why I gave her up now… God, Gibbs she… She understood, she <em>thanked</em> me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Her voice breaks on the word thanked and he reaches out and gently takes the bottle of beer in her hand and places it down on the steps before pulling her into his arms. It’s awkward and they stumble for a minute before he lands flat on his ass but he keeps his pained groan to himself as he pulls her into his lap and holds her while she sobs. She buries her face in his neck and he rests his forehead against the top of her head and just holds her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He has no idea what to say to her, he can’t find the words to fix a hurt he knows nothing about. So he does what he knows best, he holds her and let’s her cry because that’s exactly what she needs. He lets her cry for herself, for her daughter and maybe even for her grandchild that doesn’t exist yet. He lets her sob so hard she shakes in his lap as he holds her helplessly, no doubt remembering what happened that night thirty years ago, what probably happened again in a prisoner camp in Afghanistan twenty years later and every hurt in between.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He has never felt so goddamn helpless in his life and it makes him feel worse to realize that it pales in comparison to what she must be feeling. He aches for her, his heart breaking more and more with each sob but he doesn’t let it show. He wants to kill the man who did this to her but he won’t, this is her fight and all he needs to do is support her. It goes against his every instinct, as her partner, as her friend, as an agent, as a father and as a grandfather. He desperately wants to make this right, maybe it is a ‘guy thing’ to want to fix the problem but it’s not his place. His place is to hold her, to love her, to remind her that she is one of the strongest women he knows, to remind her what an amazing example she’s provided her daughter with, what an amazing example she is to his kids. There is no ‘fixing this'. Jack had said it happened thirty years ago but that doesn’t mean it will ever end for her, he knows it will never go away. There is no fixing it so he channels everything he has into holding her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’s never been a talker and that doesn’t change in this situation, he lets her cry and eventually he lets himself cry right along with her, because there is no fixing it there is only getting through it, together.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I would like to thank everyone for their patience and support through the last year it has meant the world to me! I would also like to address the fact that it is difficult to come forward in these situations, I want to say that it goes well every time unfortunately that is not always the case (it wasn't for me) but if you ever feel unsafe/find yourself in this situation please reach out to the police or someone you trust! I am also always open to chat, my instagram is under the same name and I have messages open to anyone (I am not offering professional help here, just to lend an ear and be someone to listen). </p>
<p>You are never alone, </p>
<p>~Kate</p></blockquote></div></div>
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